A/HRC/35/5 pieces of legislation, such as protective orders, residence or custody orders, are often unknown by victims, or even the lawyers and activists who support them. 41. The combining of services was mentioned as a good way of combating stigma and ensuring adequate referral. In countries like Bangladesh, mobile legal services with paralegals have been set up to reach rural and remote areas. Innovative ways to provide information, for example, using smartphones, were also mentioned. Youth clubs established in 30 villages in Niger within the framework of the project entitled “Raise my voice” were also a successful example of how to raise awareness and provide information and referral to victims. National hotline services on violence against women or trafficking, linking women and girls to required services, have also proved to be critical for protection purposes. Helplines have, for example, been successfully used in countries such as Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, with the support of radio campaigns. Civil society organizations are deeply engaged in the development and implementation of some of these projects. Partnerships between Government and civil society to provide protection services are very important, as civil society organizations can promote the integration of some of the successful strategies into government policies. 42. Law enforcement, the judiciary, education and health-care providers are often influenced by harmful stereotypical perceptions and social norms, resulting in negligent or inadequate protection responses. For example, judges often take gender-blind decisions, leading to discrimination instead of using constitutional and other human rights guarantees to ensure the best possible protection for women and girls. Addressing stereotypical, judgmental attitudes should be a priority, through training, codes of conduct and the implementation of disciplinary measures. It was also stressed that access to protection and remedies can be influenced by the religion, ethnicity, disability or location of the victims. It was recalled that legislation often spells out general or specific duties for the police, healthcare providers or other service providers. 43. The lack of accessible, good quality legal aid services is a concern in many highprevalence countries. Often, girls and women are not given adequate advice on the remedies available. Monitoring service provision and ensuring transparency and accountability in interventions to prevent and respond to child marriage were stressed as critical. Again, the role of national human rights institutions was considered critical in this regard. The national human rights institution in Nepal has, for instance, launched a national inquiry programme on rape and child marriage and developed monitoring tools on child rights for the nine regions of the country. Civil society organizations also gave examples of initiatives to demand accountability, through monitoring and advocacy. Women’s movements in Brazil, for example, have been devoting increased attention to the responses provided by the police and more broadly by the State to child marriage. 44. The need for greater focus on health and social services for girls who are already married was stressed, including the specific needs of minority communities in this regard. Efforts to ensure young married couples have access to services have led to a reduction of violence and increased use of family planning methods in countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. The use of mobile telephones to provide information on sexual and reproductive health was referred to as a good example. Inadequate attention to the mental health of the victims was flagged as an important gap. The need for more research on successful exit strategies for girls and women in child and forced marriage was mentioned. 45. Further cooperation is required to ensure that protection orders against child and forced marriage issued in one country will apply in the country of origin of the girl or woman concerned or in a third country. The need was stressed for there to be more attention to conditions for recognizing foreign marriage. VI. Conclusion and recommendations 46. The experts stressed the crucial need to recognize child and forced marriage as a human rights violation and manifestation of gender-based discrimination. In this regard, they recommended that measures be adopted to address comprehensively the drivers and causes that expose women and girls to the practice. This requires, inter 8